Does anybody remember this improv show? It was on for 10 years in England then it came to the US and was on for nearly 10 more. The American version had Drew Carrey as the host. I've recently rediscovered this show on ABC Family and is on (in the central time zone) 11:00 and 11:30 M - F. Although its been years since I've seen it I still LOVE this show, although I prefer the British version myself.

Did anybody else watch it (I know 2-1b was a fan)?

Mad Slanted Powers

05-10-2010, 07:53 PM

I used to watch it. It was pretty funny. I've seen the British version on BBC America a couple times, which had someone from the American show each time I saw it.

Ryan Stiles lives in the Bellingham area and opened an improv theater a few years ago, but I've yet to go check it out.

Darth Jax

05-10-2010, 08:43 PM

ryan stiles was hilarious, many of the others were so-so

Slicker

05-10-2010, 09:26 PM

I used to watch the American and British versions all of the time.

They both also featured Fode and Beed...

Mad Slanted Powers

05-10-2010, 09:30 PM

Wayne Brady is pretty talented. I had seen Brad Sherwood before on a short lived sketch show called The Newz. It was a half hour show on weeknights. I just found some clips on Youtube. I thought it was pretty funny, especially since 1994 was a down year for SNL.

El Chuxter

05-10-2010, 10:01 PM

I've seen Batman on there, as well as one of the Yavin Rebel Troopers. Also Fode/Beed and that psycho pimp who shot up Dave Chapelle.

Daryl VayDar

05-11-2010, 06:43 AM

Both versions were fun, I started out with the British version, but the American cast was probably a bit more "zany".
I always questioned the reality of the show being "totally improvised", some of those songs were WAY too tight to be thought up on the spot!

Bel-Cam Jos

05-11-2010, 08:10 AM

I was first exposed to it (the British version) when I'd visit my dad, and his cable had Comedy Central. I always liked it, and then became a regular viewer of the US one from ABC. I can recall several instances of ROTFL from both.

When I took some improv acting classes, and later helped out with others, they constantly said the sketches they were teaching were not the way WLIIA did them.

JimJamBonds

05-11-2010, 10:18 AM

Both versions were fun, I started out with the British version, but the American cast was probably a bit more "zany".
I always questioned the reality of the show being "totally improvised", some of those songs were WAY too tight to be thought up on the spot!

I always wondered that as well, if you go to youtube you can find bloopers so it wasn't 100% live. I also noticed Wayne Bradey laughs waaaaay to hard at stupid things. And while I give Drew Carrey credit for bringing the show to America he is by far the worst person on the show, when he gets out from behind his desk and participates... horrible.

Also, since they have a lot of experience doing the games, they probably have a library of things in their mind that they can fall back on. Of course, the trick is pulling out the right thing at the right time.

Bel-Cam Jos

05-11-2010, 08:10 PM

I can say from experience in an improv class, where I nor the others were no great actors, sometimes you just catch an idea that works out beautifully. We worked on the style of skit and sketch, so you knew how to do it properly; you just had to use the material for that particular sketch once its "live." And I used to think of "stock ideas" to keep until they could come in handy in a skit. And remember, there were some stinkers of songs and sketches on the show, so not everything's peachy keen.

JediTricks

05-12-2010, 03:50 AM

I loved the British original, but couldn't stand the American version. Too much music (and yes, a lot felt less-than-improv'd), and too much Wayne Brady who tries too hard sometimes. And Drew is a funny guy, but I never felt like he was really part of it, it was just him being there because he was a big star for the network at the time.

After seeing you type his name now all that I can think of is how Clive said Tony Slattery's name. Just the accent makes it stick out.

JimJamBonds

05-12-2010, 10:50 AM

I can say from experience in an improv class, where I nor the others were no great actors, sometimes you just catch an idea that works out beautifully. We worked on the style of skit and sketch, so you knew how to do it properly; you just had to use the material for that particular sketch once its "live." And I used to think of "stock ideas" to keep until they could come in handy in a skit. And remember, there were some stinkers of songs and sketches on the show, so not everything's peachy keen.

Kinda like Michael from The Office and his improv class? :D

JediTricks

05-12-2010, 03:37 PM

After seeing you type his name now all that I can think of is how Clive said Tony Slattery's name. Just the accent makes it stick out.
Now that you mention it, yeah, I totally hear that.

JimJamBonds

06-09-2010, 10:52 AM

Jump ahead to 2:13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez4pDBsPoO4

JediTricks

06-09-2010, 03:50 PM

Damnit, I was dying, I didn't want to be, but then Drew's line about donating 10,000 points in Brady's name to the NAACP just owned the whole thing.

JimJamBonds

06-09-2010, 08:54 PM

As I said at the start of this thread I've been dvring the episodes and this one was on about a week ago and I was dying as well. Drew's line was actually funny... a rarity if you ask me.

I thought Wayne did a pretty good Jar Jar (I'm not a WB fan).

JediTricks

06-10-2010, 04:59 PM

Yeah, he embodied Jar Jar's movements very well, the ears-from-hands was especially clever. Almost anyone can do the voice, but he brought it all together. Poor Greg Proops was trying to recover but it was all over at that point. :D